Coordination and agility are hallmarks of movement mastery. Success in the dynamic sphere of sport is often determined by your ability to turn the off-season strength, endurance, and speed gains you’ve built into complex, improvised movements on the field of play. That requires a different approach to training, one that focuses on channeling these attributes into neurologically sophisticated movements.

You know the one. Picture a guy, slightly overweight and sporting a pale fluorescent indoor tan. He walks with a slow shuffle, his pelvis tipped forward as though in a chair, his shoulders rounded like a dime store Quasimodo. The backs of his hands face forward as he walks. They’re looking for a keyboard to tickle, even after hours. All work and no exercise has made this guy chair-shaped. And it’ll only get worse. Continue reading “Exercise For the Desk Jockey — Has Your Desk Made You Chair-Shaped?”

Okay folks, it’s time to get back to office life, where we’re busy kicking holy hell outta overcompensations.

You’ve had a couple weeks to work with the Shin Box Switch — if you missed it, first of all, shame on you. Second, pop over to the link, read the article, and get to work. You have nothing to lose but your pains…

Okay, bad pun, I know. But those of you who diligently worked with this movement over the past couple weeks should already be experiencing greater hip range of motion and much less lower back discomfort. Continue reading “Banish the Office Worker Hunch”

We covered lower back and hip movements in an earlier blog and video. Check that out if your job is making you chair shaped. And we looked at the upper back and shoulders in the second installment. You should look that up if you’re developing the dreaded office worker hunch.

What if the thought of another set of sit ups, crunches and leg raises has you searching for a high cliff to throw yourself over?

Can you really have fun with this stuff?

The trick to keeping your ab training interesting is to take that core strength into new dimensions.

No, I’m not talking about exploring the astral plane. You won’t have to induce theta brain waves and float out of your body. And you won’t have to worry about malignant spirits slipping into your corporeal shell while you’re out there in the etheric. The only thing that’s going to infect you is a newfound enthusiasm for exercise.

In the first instalment — the Arching Leg Thread — we worked on your ability to recruit your core in a twisting motion. That’s pretty complex, and it’s a lot more challenging than the ole “sit up and lie back down” routine most of us spend our time on. I hope you were able to figure it out, and to catch that feeling of the core drawing in and extending the legs as you simultaneously rotate under yourself.

My ninjutsu days are long behind me. But their influence resonates down to the present and permeates every aspect of my life.

I still approach my training from that mindset. I think like a ninja, observe the street like a ninja, and I still strive towards mastery every day, in every action. You’ve gotta keep yer sword sharp and your wits even sharper if you want to survive that game!

No, I don’t mean I walk around in a black hood. Or wear a weapon-stuffed utility belt. Or pop up from behind the shrubbery to frighten the postman. Not that often, anyway.

You’ve made it this far. It’s time to attempt the final stage in our three part multi-dimensional core series…

You mastered the lower body component of this movement in the first installment — the Arching Leg Thread — where we worked on your ability to recruit your core in a twisting motion while threading the legs through.

The second installment — the Lateral Shoulder Roll — taught you to transition sideways through the plow position. You worked on it until you could enter and exit seamlessly, while moving more or less in a straight line down the mats.

Now we’ll put them together into the grand finale: a move so cool your friends may faint from the sheer force of envy. It’s called the Twisting Spinal Arch, and it requires you to contort under yourself, moving from shoulder bridge to plow in a smooth, flowing sequence. Continue reading “Wring Out Those Abs!”

We received a lot of great feedback on our multidimensional core video series. You asked for more, and we’re here to oblige…

Core training is a big priority for our readers — and with good reason. The core is your body’s powerhouse. It transfers force from lower to upper body, protects the back, and keeps us upright. It’s also the location of that hot set of beach abs. Let’s not discount the importance of those!

Having a pretty little six pack is great of course, but if you’re nothing but a bag of highly toned spare parts you’ll never be able to use that strength in real world applications. The movement we’re sharing today is an important one because it teaches you to connect the driving power of your arms and legs to your core. Continue reading “Build Killer Abs with the Plank Push”

You’ve asked for more secret ninja exercises, and I’m here to deliver.

“But I didn’t ask you yet,” you might say. “My wrists hurt, but I haven’t even started typing an email. How did you know?”

Ninjas just know things like that.

This time we’ll going deeper into the wrists and forearms with a couple closed chain exercises I developed in my ninjutsu days. I even filmed the clip in black and white, just for the sake of nostalgia…

We did a lot of wrist locks back then, so I spent an awful lot of time stretching and mobilizing those specific ranges. It made my training sessions safer of course, but that mobility also gave me a bit of extra room when I wanted to slip out of a hold.